Johan Patrik Ljungström (1784–1859) was a Swedish

jeweler A bench jeweler is an artisan who uses a combination of skills to make and repair jewelry. Some of the more common skills that a bench jeweler might employ include antique restoration, silversmithing, goldsmithing, stone setting, engraving, ...

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

, and

underwater diving Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving (disambiguation), diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meani ...

pioneer. He is credited as the first private underwater diver in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, and possibly beyond. His works, sometimes abbreviated as ''J. P. Ljungström'' (J.P.L.) are represented inter alia by the

Nordic Museum The Nordic Museum () is a museum located on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm, Sweden, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the early modern period (in Swedish history, it is said to begin in 1520) to the ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, and the Museum of Bohuslän.

Biography

Johan Patrik Ljungström was born in

, Christian Fredrik Ljungström, a länsman, and Anna Elisabeth (née Tengman). He married three times: to Fredrika Charlotte (née Skarstedt), Maria Christina (née Spaak), and Britta Catharina (née Bagge). He had children in all three marriages, including Jonas Patrik Ljungström. Active as a jeweler and burgher in

Uddevalla Uddevalla is a Stad (Sweden), town in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It’s the seat of Uddevalla Municipality. In 2015, it had a population of 34,781, making it the largest town fully in Bohuslän. Uddevalla is located where the river Bäveån ...

, and

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, works surviving from his ateliers include ranging from ciboriums preserved by the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...

, to jewelry for personal

adornment An adornment is generally an accessory or ornament worn to enhance the beauty or status of the wearer. They are often worn to embellish, enhance, or distinguish the wearer, and to define cultural, social, or religious status within a specific co ...

represented by the

, as well as regional cultural heritage museums. The jewelry business started by Ljungström was with time overtaken by his descendants, remaining one of the oldest active jewelers in the region. As an inventor, he was noted for his pioneering work in

gas lighting Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a fuel gas such as methane, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directly by ...

. Subsequent to initial experiments in own ateliers with

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

apparatuses and

chandelier A chandelier () is an ornamental lighting device, typically with spreading branched supports for multiple lights, designed to be hung from the ceiling. Chandeliers are often ornate, and they were originally designed to hold candles, but now inca ...

s of

ink Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. ...

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

and

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...

, the technology was exhibitioned in the city of

, reportedly one of the first such public installations of gas lightning in the region, enhanced as a

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road, and usually standing alone, unconnected to other buildings. In its simplest form, a triumphal ...

for the

city gate A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. It is a type of fortified gateway. Uses City gates were traditionally built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods ...

for a

royal visit A state visit is a formal visit by the head of a sovereign country (or representative of the head of a sovereign country) to another sovereign country, at the invitation of the head of state (or representative) of that foreign country, with th ...

Charles XIV John of Sweden Charles XIV John (; 26 January 1763 – 8 March 1844) was King of Sweden and Norway from 1818 until his death in 1844 and the first monarch of the Bernadotte dynasty. In Norway, he is known as Charles III John () and before he became royalty in ...

in 1820. Among his side ventures was also early

diving bell A diving bell is a rigid chamber used to transport divers from the surface to depth and back in open water, usually for the purpose of performing underwater work. The most common types are the open-bottomed wet bell and the closed bell, which c ...

development, used to recover material from

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...

s, upon challenge by a Swedish expert Rosenberg that it would be impossible to develop technology to access a designated shipwreck. Hence he invented a diving bell built of

tinned Tinning is the process of thinly coating sheets of wrought iron or steel with tin, and the resulting product is known as tinplate. The term is also widely used for the different process of coating a metal with solder before soldering. It is most ...

with space for a crew of 2-3 persons. In 1825, the bell, equipped with

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...

and methods of communication to the surface, successfully dived down to 25

ell An ell (from Proto-Germanic *''alinō'', cognate with Latin ''ulna'') is a northwestern European unit of measurement, originally understood as a cubit (the combined length of the forearm and extended hand). The word literally means "arm", an ...

s with Ljungström and an assistant on board, "to the awe of the local society, much of which was assembled for the demonstration." Ljungström went on to author a book presenting technology and ideas for a

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The private sector employs most of the workfo ...

in Sweden, which was until then still strictly subject of authorities in the form of public diving companies. Towards the 1830s he relocated to

, attached to the

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Katarina The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Catherine (, , ) is an Evangelical Lutheran church located at Malaya Konyushnaya Ulitsa 1 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The building was built in 1885. As it was built by and for Swedish expatriates in S ...

, where also

Immanuel Nobel Immanuel Nobel the Younger ( , ; 24 March 1801 – 3 September 1872) was a Swedish people, Swedish engineer, architect, inventor and industrialist. He was the inventor of the Lathe (tool), rotary lathe used in plywood manufacturing. He was a mem ...

(1801–1872) was active and with whom he may have collaborated in underwater inventions. Upon return to Sweden towards the end of his life, he settled as a jeweler elder in Stockholm.

Bibliography

* ''Strödda anteckningar, rörande dykeri- och lots-inrättningarna'' (And. Johnson, Uddevalla, 1827)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ljungstrom, Johan Patrik 1784 births 1859 deaths Johan Patrik Artists from Stockholm Businesspeople from Stockholm Writers from Stockholm Swedish jewellers 19th-century Swedish inventors Underwater divers Underwater diving equipment inventors Pioneering scientific divers Gas technologies

Biography

Bibliography

Further reading

References